


Positive Influence

by Meilan_Firaga



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 18:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20912042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meilan_Firaga/pseuds/Meilan_Firaga
Summary: Robin doesn't let Steve Harrington off easily with the face that his only friends seem to be children, but then she gets to see just how deep their relationships go.





	Positive Influence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evol_love](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evol_love/gifts).

The first time a dorky kid came in and asked for Harrington she figured it was a fluke. Maybe the kid was little sibling to one of his former flames or something. But it just. Kept. Happening. First in ones and twos, and then later as a whole pack of preteen insanity. Sometimes they were accompanied by an adult that would smile and comment like he’d hung the moon, and sometimes they were lead in by Nancy Wheeler or Jonathan Byers impatiently asking them to make their choices and get out. No matter how many of them there were or who they had for accompaniment, the kids always asked for Steve and always looked at him like he was the world’s best big brother.

He didn’t even have siblings. Hell, most days she wasn’t even sure he had parents. The guy didn’t seem to have much of anyone. Except, of course, for the kids.

“Hi.” It was the only girl this time—alone and with a skateboard tucked under her arm. Most of the time they were all goofy and giggling, but the girl seemed to be trying to make herself small. “Is—” 

Robin cut the girl off by banging her fist against the window. “One of your kids is here,” she called. The window slid open and Harrington poked his head out with a ready grin that disappeared the moment he saw the kid’s face.

“Hey, Max.” His eyes were quickly filling with concern. “Everything okay?” When the girl shook her head, he closed the window and almost immediately appeared at the door. “Come on back.” He didn’t spare Robin a glace as he ushered the kid into the back room. “You’ve got the counter, right?”

The door swung closed before she could reply. It wasn’t that she was trying to eavesdrop (even though she was just a little bit), but it was almost impossible not to hear the ugly sobs of a distraught girl on the edge of puberty. She caught a bit of angst about a boyfriend, and she knew from their many invasions of Scoops Ahoy exactly which of the kids she meant. That got the tears started, but it was the talk of an angry older brother that really set the girl off. Robin expected a lot of things from her ridiculous coworker. He was a popular jock with an ego the size of space, so certain mannerisms just came with the territory. She was not expecting the gentle comfort and advice that she heard through the thin wall separating the backroom from the counter. What was worse, a lot of the advice he gave made a strange kind of sense. By the time the girl left—eyes puffier but steps lighter—Harrington had been talking to her for nearly an hour. 

Robin turned to him with a smartass comment at the tip of her tongue and found herself facing the most stone-cold, protective glare that she had ever seen. Whatever barb she’d been about to throw died on her lips. He didn’t say a word, just took her place at the counter and didn’t complain about her taking longer breaks for the rest of the week. They never once spoke about Max’s visit or what they’d discussed.

Normalcy resumed the very next day, but every now and again one of the kids would come in alone and looking desolate, be ushered to the back for a long talk over a free sundae, and leave with spirits lifted. For all that she teased him on days when they came in happy, Robin didn’t bother with a quip on the days when they weren’t. She’d give Harrington a lot of shit, but she’d learned that lesson. 

Steve Harrington was the best influence those kids had.


End file.
